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Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

arxiv.org

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Re: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

#3

This is true, but likely happening in talk therapy too with overly sycyphantic therapists

Sure, but there is a marked difference between a therapist and an LLM Chatbot: you can't talk to your therapist for +4h a day, at any time convenient to yourself. It's also not a guarantee you're going to hit upon a therapist that is like that, versus a product that is very literally intended to maximise your usage of it.

Re: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

#6
post #3

This is true, but likely happening in talk therapy too with overly sycyphantic therapists

Sure, but there is a marked difference between a therapist and an LLM Chatbot: you can't talk to your therapist for +4h a day, at any time convenient to yourself. It's also not a guarantee you're going to hit upon a therapist that is like that, versus a product that is very literally intended to maximise your usage of it.

a therapist should, if they follow their training, not be a sycophant whatsoever. CBT, for eg, is a multi-step process including Socratic self-dialogue, reframing practices, etc to guide the person towards the development of insight and healthier coping mechanisms

Re: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

#9
post #4

I think this goes along way to explain people's very defensive reactions when you are skeptical about Agentic Development.

I'm one of the people who gets accused of this. I don't mind skepticism. But every time I turn around, someone's claiming nobody gets any value from these tools and anyone who says otherwise is deluded or running a scam. That gets really old.

Re: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

#10
post #4

I think this goes along way to explain people's very defensive reactions when you are skeptical about Agentic Development.

Those are two different things. Chatgpt being sycophantic while playing the role of a therapist with a teenager is much different from Codex being sycophantic while reviewing user feedback. The former is extremely dangerous for society.
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